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Escape from the Hunters
Escape from the hunters Chapter 1 At night, I am not the same person as I am during the day. I’m fast, agile, and a silent killer. I’m also usually younger than those I’m protecting/rescuing, when I do rescue or protect. I’m feared among my enemies. My name alone makes them cower and run in terror. I’m dark and mysterious. I am called Valsadora. I was cursed as a newborn by enemies of my cruel parents. They couldn’t take out their anger on my powerful parents, so they took their vengeance out on me. I was burdened with a special, rare, and unique affliction. The Curse. The Curse is when a person vents all their anger and rage into the victim. I was turned into a dragon on the entire left side of my body. At the time I was born, dragons were terrible fire-breathing pests that stole livestock -- starving whole villages that couldn’t fight back. Seeing a chance to get rid of their deformed infant, my parents tossed me out onto the street while a dragon attack was going on. I was carried off by a ferocious Monstrous Nightmare, a dragon species that had a nasty habit of setting themselves aflame and that only the best warriors dare to meet in battle. I wasn’t conscious as I dangled from the long talons of the wild, black and red beast. However, I was adopted by the dragons as one of their own. As I grew, I found out that there was more to me than being just half Deadly Nader though. During the ten years I was with the dragons, I found out that my dragon half could turn into different kinds of dragons. The last time I ever saw my family of dragons was when I went out hunting and was caught by Dragon Hunters. Ryker, the chief hunter, was surprised and delighted by my odd appearance. He forced me aboard his hunting ship, complete with cannons and ballistae that can shoot nets along with large arrows. Of the ten guards that brought me down to the hold only three survived, not without each losing a limb though. One bled to death after getting his mangled arm cut off. After I calmed down a bit, which took days, Ryker ordered that I be taken to a longer cell where they harassed me with spears. They did this until I shot my tail spines at them where they caught them on their shields. They used my spines to attach to long poles to make spears and shorter sticks to make ammo for their ballistae. After two years of doing this I’ve gotten better at my aim, so Ryker loses men faster than he can hire them. The third year, however, they took me out of the long cell back into the smaller cell that I started in. After being in the long cell for so long… the shorter cell made me disoriented. I found out why they did this a little while later. SHINCK! A tail spike landed in my cage right by my slumped form. The guards of my cell have captured a blue and orange Deadly Nader that, for some reason, has a saddle securely strapped to its back. The cowards that call themselves guards don’t have the guts to get near enough to take it off though. They harass that dragon day and night in order to harvest the long sharp tail spikes that it shoots at them. Although I’m glad for the break from getting harassed myself, I have a bit of sympathy for the Nader. The day was going as normal when I heard the odd cry of “Dragon Riders!” Dragon riders? I thought Is that where that Nader came from? I heard the usual rolling of cannons and ballistae. I heard the usual explosions and arrows whistling through the air. I heard a Hideous ZippleBack’s explosions, a Gronkle’s spew, a Monstrous Nightmare’s flames, and a…. no… I thought they were hunted to extinction! A Night Fury! That gave me long-forgotten hope. I ran up to the cell’s doors as the hunter’s boat began to lurch. When I heard cries of triumph from the hunters, I automatically knew that all was lost. The new dragons that were brought in had saddles too, just like that Nader had. I saw the Gronkle and the Zippleback, but not the Monstrous Nightmare or the Night Fury. I was relieved that the Night Fury had escaped. The guards came into the stuffy room with four people who were put in the cage across from mine. One turned sharply around and surprised me with the question “Where are our dragons?” She had an accent I didn’t recognize. All the guard told her was to watch what she said and did. She replied sharply, “And why should I do that?” The guard only grinned and nodded his head over at my cage. They could only see my shadow, for I had stepped back from the bars. He slammed the door shut and stumbled away back down the dark corridor. The new prisoners immediately started to discuss how they were going to get out of their cage. I quickly learned their names and their dominant personalities. The girl who asked about the dragons was named Astrid, and she was tough and serious. Fishlegs (whoever would name their kid that, I have no idea) was the brains, and a brother and sister, obviously twins, Toughnut and Roughnut were nuts for sure. They were the stupid/smart type of teens who used their smarts to be stupid, if that makes any sense to you. I could tell they have all been together for a long time. The next day, Ryker came to take the gang on a tour of the ship, probably to show them how he was treating their dragons and to get information. An hour later, Ryker brought them back and threw them back into their cell. As Ryker walked out, he hit my cage with a clang, and I gave a long, low warning hiss that sounded like the dragon that I was half of at the moment. A Speedstinger. The gang looked at my cage in alarm, frantically trying to find my body in the dark cell. Toughnut asked, “Does that sound familiar to anyone but me?” Fishlegs answered with a whimper, “Yeah, it sounds like a Speedstinger is in the cage across from us.” Then I spoke up, “You would think that wouldn’t you?” They all jumped, “You’re in a cage with a SPEEDSTINGER!?!” Roughnut yelped. “No” I replied calmly. Astrid interrupted, “It doesn’t matter if there is a Speedstinger or not… actually I think it would be very helpful…” Toughnut said, “Do you have a crazy, mad, stupefying-ing escape forming in that creative mind of yours, Astrid?” “Yes… here’s the plan…. wait…” she sighed, “Can’t open the cell…” “Who ever said that?” asked Roughnut producing the key to the cells. Everyone gaped at her. Astrid was the first to get out of her dumb-foundedness and she said, “Great! Now here’s the plan.” She turned to me, “Do you know your way around the ship?” “I have lived here for three years, so yes, I know my way around, but you have to be careful. There are booby traps in all of the dragon’s cells.” “OK, we need your help… if you want to come with us.” “Yes, I would like to get out of here.” “Good,” and she laid out the plan. I must say I admire her creativity. The plan was going great, until it was time for us to get their dragons. I had memorized the whole ship and I knew where every booby trap was, so I had to do a little modifying of the plan. I would go out alone to each of their dragons, free them, and send them to their masters. After finalizing our plans, I left them to go to the dragons. I first came to the Deadly Nader. I calmed it down by explaining things to it with my Deadly Nader half while my human half got the chain off its leg. The Nader went off to meet its rider. Next, I came to the Gronkle. A guard was still forcing it to make metal. I went back into Speedstinger mode. I quickly and quietly slipped behind the guard and stung him with my tail. He froze, for a Speedstinger’s sting paralyzes the victim. I got the Gronkle loose, and it went to her rider too. The last was the Zippleback. This stubborn beast didn’t want to go because, unlike the others, it was treated well because the hunters were preparing it for sale. I managed to get it to go by telling it what was in store for it. I followed close behind the Zippleback to the rest of the dragons, now reunited with their riders. Dawn was breaking, so we had to hurry, or our cover of darkness would dissipate. I counted to three, and we literally blew the roof off the hold we were in. We all flew straight up out of the line of fire of their toxic arrows. Before the riders saw me, I flew off as fast as I could away from the ship, the riders, and from the only home I knew… my prison.